


Close Call

by glow_worm



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Blood, Hurt/Comfort, Just sibling stuff, Poisoning, Protective Siblings, Suffering, almost death but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22336354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glow_worm/pseuds/glow_worm
Summary: Taako suddenly collapses on a mission; Lup wears herself out watching him suffer and trying to keep him alive.
Relationships: Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 99





	Close Call

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Another fic of the twins going through hell :)  
> This takes place in an early cycle, probably 10, so before Barry and Lup have acknowledged feelings.  
> Again I took some liberties with how magic/poison/resting etc works in this world. Enjoy!

“Pick up the pace, broski, you’re lagging.”

Lup’s voice called back to her brother, though she did not turn to look at him. Taako was, in fact, trailing several feet behind the rest of the group—falling behind even Merle.

“Yeah, yeah,” Taako replied, sounding a little worn out. “I’ll catch up. You guys go.”

“You can’t be tired already,” Magnus called teasingly, far ahead of the others. “We just started.”

“I have a migraine...or something,” Taako answered, a hand covering half of his face.

Their group today consisted of Magnus, Lup, Merle, and Taako. Captain Davenport, Barry, and Lucretia had gone on a separate mission. The crew had received several leads about the potential location of the Light of Creation, and the Hunger was due in about three weeks. So they split the party to investigate two different areas.

This plane was not too different from their own, save for the fact that the inhabitants seemed to only be humans, and was currently in the winter season. The crew wore their red IPRE robes to stay warm in the chilly weather.

They were exploring the depths of a cavern. The twisting tunnels were damp, and lit only by a few torches. Lup, Taako, and Merle had summoned some light to at least help Magnus, though the rest had no problem with their darkvision.

Besides the torches and a few empty wooden crates, the cavern had been empty.

About an hour into their descent, however, Magnus sprung a trap. A few rusty arrows shot out from the cavern wall—they realized after the fact that many of the projectiles were stuck in the mechanism and did not manage to fire—the team for the most part managed to avoid them all. One almost hit Lup’s shoulder, but Taako was able to act quickly enough to just smack it out of the way, coming away with only the smallest of scrapes which he barely even noticed.

_“Shitty trap,” Taako had quipped._

_“Yeah, shit, guys,” Lup laughed. “How are we gonna solve this cave puzzle?”_

_“Guess we have to turn back...”_

Another hour or so had passed since then, and they hadn’t set off any more traps. Magnus had noticed another set of arrows in the wall, but they seemed to be rusted in place.

“I think this cave might be bigger than we thought,” Magnus called again, so far ahead of the group that the other three could not see him. “Did we bring any snacks?”

Lup scoffed, “Yeah I got a sack full of Luna bars—no. Taako and I can just conjure something up if we need to, but it’s way too early for that.”

“...I’m cool with taking a break,” Taako offered quietly.

“A break from what?” Lup countered. “We haven’t done anything.”

Merle looked over his shoulder to see Taako, then raised an eyebrow and stopped.

Taako’s face was pale, his forehead sprinkled with sweat. His eyes were unfocused and glassy. He had moved to the side of the tunnel, and walked forward slowly with one hand against the cavern wall. Overall, he seemed exhausted.

“You alright there, bud?” Merle asked.

Taako stopped and leaned against the wall.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “Fine.”

Merle pursed his lips, unsure. “Hey, Lup—Taako’s not looking so great.”

Now, Lup finally turned around.

She knew immediately that something was wrong. Taako could be over-dramatic sometimes, but this was clearly something beyond laziness. She backtracked, walking quickly toward her brother without further hesitation.

“Magnus,” Lup called. “Come back. We’re taking a break.”

“What?” Magnus’s voice echoed through the tunnel, but no one replied.

Taako took a knee, evidently having a hard time keeping himself up. Merle stood next to him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry,” Taako mumbled. “I don’t know what’s…” He trailed off, cradling his face with one hand.

“Did you get hurt?” Merle questioned, more confused than concerned.

Taako shook his head no in response, but made no attempt to speak or clarify.

Lup reached the two and kneeled down next to her brother, her shoulders raising up tight with anxiety. She looked at him apprehensively as her hands began to fidget.

“Maybe he got the flu,” Merle offered.

“He was fine this morning...you were fine this morning, right Taako?” Lup asked.

He did not answer.

“Should...should you heal him?” Lup asked Merle.

“Heal what?” Merle replied. “I don’t know what I’m healing. You want me to spend a spell slot on a guess when we have this whole cave ahead of us?”

Lup placed a hand on her brother’s head, but gave Merle a look of disdain.

“Let’s just stop for a few minutes and see what happens,” Merle offered. “This came on real fast. Maybe he just needs a little rest."

“I guess...” Lup trailed off, unsure. She bit her lip and stood up as Magnus reached them, then she grabbed on to one of the wooden crates nearby and pulled it closer to the group. She then used a cantrip to set it aflame and keep the party warm.

Magnus sat down near the fire while Lup and Merle watched Taako closely.

Taako was fully sitting as well now, with both legs tucked to the side of him. Lup joined him, and carefully lifted his hat off his head and placed it on the ground beside her. She then gently pulled him close so that his head rested on her shoulder.

“You were able to meditate last night, right?” Lup questioned quietly. “I could have sworn you were trancing.”

Taako did not answer, but he finally pulled his hand away from his face. His eyes were closed, and both hands were folded in his lap.

“Guess not...” Lup muttered.

Merle handed her a cloth and a water skein. Lup took them, dampened the cloth and wiped the sweat from Taako’s forehead.

“He’s burning up,” Lup pointed out, surprised. “I don’t get it. He was fine when we came in here, wasn’t he?”

Merle shrugged, and began to flip through his bible in search of answer. Lup felt Taako lean into her more, and she tensed to support his weight. It was very unusual for him to tolerate looking helpless in front of his friends.

Lup began to worry. “We can rest as long as you need to,” she said to her brother. “But what kind of illness comes on this fast? Are you sure you didn’t get hurt?”

Again Taako did not respond, and Lup only heard the soft slow breaths commonly heard when elves are deep in meditation.

Lup’s brow furrowed, and she took Taako by the shoulders and gently repositioned him so that his head was in her lap. Doing this, concern gave way to fear—as her brother did not stir at all. She tried to rouse him.

“Taako?” She pressed. “Hey.”

Lup shook him gently by the shoulders.

“Taako?” She asked again, her voice cracking slightly. She swallowed hard.

“He’s not trancing,” Lup said to no one in particular. “I can’t wake him up.”

Merle kneeled down to check him out.

“Aw, hell,” the cleric grumbled, taking a step back to continue thumbing through his book with a little more urgency. “He’s unconscious.”

“I was only gone for a minute,” Magnus said, irritated. “What happened?”

“I—I don’t know,” Lup answered. “Merle, if he’s unconscious then he’s not going to heal at all by himself.”

“I know, I know,” Merle said. “I’m seeing what I’ve got.”

“It’s not a good idea to split the party,” Magnus pondered aloud, thinking about their mission. “I doubt the Light is in here anyway. Maybe we should just turn back, and we can come back if Cap’nport’s group didn’t find it.”

“Well, I’ll heal Taako up and we’ll take it from there,” Merle replied.

“Hang on,” Magnus warned. “If we don’t know what happened to him, who’s to say it can’t happen to us? You can heal him but then if we keep going further in and you come down with it we’re all screwed.”

They all paused to think about their next course of action.

“Okay,” Lup began, breaking the silence after a few minutes. “Let’s just get Taako back on his feet and then get out of here. We can come back another day if we have to.”

“Alright,” Merle responded. “I guess I’ll cast lesser restoration...for an illness? But if that’s not really the problem, that’d be a wasted spell.”

“Maybe I should just double check that he didn’t get hurt somehow,” Lup said quietly. She began examining him, looking for any sign of blood or broken bones, when suddenly she froze.

She watched his chest for a few moments, eyes wide.

“He’s—Merle, he’s not breathing. “ Lup stammered in a panic. “He’s not breathing.”

Magnus stood up, shocked, while Merle quickly dropped down next to Taako. Lup’s hand went right to the side of her brother’s neck.

No pulse.

“Merle—Merle, do something—please!”

Without further hesitation, Merle cast Spare the Dying.

A soft white glow flowed from Merle’s bible into Taako’s body, and Taako let out a soft gasp and a few ragged breaths before his normal breathing resumed.

Lup let out a sigh of relief, tears pricking her eyes. She grabbed tight to her brother’s IPRE robe.

“What the _actual fuck_ was that, Taako?” Lup muttered under her breath.

He was alive, but still unconscious.

“He’s stable for now,” Merle explained, on edge. “But if we don’t figure out what did this and heal it, he’ll just die again.”

Lup grabbed Taako’s hand, fearing for her brother’s life. Sure, they were basically immortal and death at this point would just mean not seeing Taako for about three weeks—but it was still not something she wanted to go through. She had been with him the whole time—how could she let her brother get into such a bad condition without her even noticing?

When she grabbed his hands, however, something caught her eye.

One hand seemed normal, but one was stiff and colder than the other, the veins raised.

Lup cautiously turned over the afflicted hand so that the palm was facing up.

At the center of the palm was the smallest scrape, which was atop a raised and throbbing purple mass. From the mass spread Taako’s veins, which were also enlarged and deep purple.

“What the hell is that?” Magnus asked.

Lup looked to Merle, afraid.

With that, Merle cast Detect Poison.

“Alright,” he said. “Well, good news is he’s not just sick. Bad news is, that’s definitely poison.”

“Can you...do anything for that?” Magnus asked.

Merle shook his head. “Not much. I can heal him, but I can tell this is a weird poison we don’t have back home. Basically it’s going to just keep doing damage until it loses potency. I’ll heal him now so he won’t die again, but I’m going to have to heal him again in a few hours even if I get him back to full health now.”

“Shit,” Lup lamented.

“When did he get poisoned?” Magnus asked.

Lup paused for a moment, then her jaw dropped with realization. She pressed a palm to her face.

“That shitty arrow trap,” she moaned. “He slapped one away from me. It must have nicked him.”

“Guess that’s why there weren’t any more traps,” Merle said. “They only needed the one.”

Magnus sighed. “Alright, well, let’s just head back to the ship, then. That way Merle can just heal him whenever and not have to worry about us.”

Magnus carried Taako out of the cavern, which luckily wasn’t too far from the Starblaster. Once they were safe, Lup cast Sending to get a message out to Barry—warning the other group that their cleric was going to be preoccupied and that they might consider heading back early.

\---

Taako was out for two full days.

Thankfully, Merle was able to heal him when necessary—so the crew didn’t need to use any of their limited supply of potions.

For the first twelve hours or so after getting back to the Starblaster, not much happened. They had put him in a spare room that functioned as a medical bay when they happened to need one, and had him lay on a bed with Lup sitting next to it, constantly monitoring him. She stayed by his side with a water basin and a cloth, just trying to make him comfortable. Taako’s health would drop, and Merle would save him. Then Taako would worsen, and Merle would save him again. And so the cycle went on, with Taako suffering silently, until Merle ran out of spell slots and had to take a long rest to recover them.

Davenport’s team came back after Merle had already gone to bed. They were dismayed to see that Taako’s condition had not changed. However, the silver lining was that they had in fact found the Light of Creation—so they could use the last three weeks of the cycle to rest.

Davenport went to sleep shortly after checking up on Taako, as he’d been injured slightly on their mission. Lucretia and Barry stayed up for a few hours to keep Lup company, but Lucretia ended up falling asleep in a chair—which prompted Lup to send both to bed.

Skipping one night of meditation was taxing, but doable.

Another full day passed, and by the second night Taako no longer seemed peaceful. His breathing grew heavy, and he appeared to be in pain. He clearly was getting worse, not better.

Taako tossed and turned, grimacing.

Lup’s heart broke for him, and she wiped his forehead with a damp cloth again.

“I’m here, Taako,” Lup reassured. “Hang in there.”

There was a soft knock on the door.

“Come in,” Lup answered, dejected.

The door opened slowly as Lup dipped the cloth back into the bowl of ice water, her gaze locked on her brother.

“You should try to get some rest, Lup,” Barry said gently.

It was late into the second night, nearly four in the morning. Lup looked up at her friend, dark circles carved under her lightless eyes.

“No—I can’t leave him like this,” Lup responded flatly. “Merle’s sleeping, I have to make sure Taako stays stable...I wish I could do something for the pain, though...”

“You’ve done your part,” Barry assured. “And I promise I will take care of him. Now please, even just for two or three hours, try to get some meditation in?”

Lup shook her head. “I’ve never seen him like this, Barry. Merle said that the poison isn’t meant to be in living beings for this long. It works by numbing everything—there was no struggle at first, he just seemed tired and then he stopped breathing and— and that’s how it’s supposed to work, but if you survive and it stays in your system long enough your body tries to fight it off and the numbness goes away and—and it’s just pain.”

Barry started to reach a hand out to touch her cheek, but faltered and retracted it. Instead, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Merle also said Taako’s going to sweat it out and pull through.”

“But he doesn’t know that,” Lup countered. “He could tell how the poison worked, sure, but this is a weird plane with weird plants that we don’t have, and—and there are no elves here—and there’s no _way_ he can know for certain what’s going to happen.”

“And neither do you,” Barry said delicately. “So why don’t you lie down or at least close your eyes, and I absolutely promise I will snap you out of your trance if anything changes.”

Lup bit her lip, considering the offer, but looked again to her haggard brother whose rough breathing and trembling hands made her heart sink.

“No. I’ll rest when he’s out of danger. Besides, between the two of us I’m not the one who needs to sleep at night. Why are you awake?”

“Cause I’m worried!” Barry exclaimed in a whisper. “You’ve been at this for two days, Lup, you’re gonna crash and burn.”

“You’re worried about _me_?” Lup asked, almost amused.

“Yes?” Barry replied instantly, exasperated. He paused a moment, his cheeks turning red. “We all are. I mean don’t get me wrong, I am worried _sick_ about Taako but yes I am definitely concerned about you too!”

“You don’t need to be,” Lup answered, trying to muster a smile.

Barry sighed deeply. He pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose, pushing up on his glasses.

Taako let out the quietest of whimpers as his body tensed; he grit his teeth and his hands gripped tightly at the sheets underneath him.

Lup took his hand in hers and waited for the wave to pass. This time, Barry drew the rag from the basin and dabbed around Taako’s face.

“Thank you,” Lup murmured.

Barry returned the cloth to its place, then shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“I can’t leave him, Barry,” Lup explained quietly. “Taako...he talks a big game, but if he wakes up and he’s alone and hurt...”

“He won’t be alone,” Barry reminded her.

“I have to be here if he wakes up,” she said. “ _When_ he wakes up. Please, try to understand.”

“I do,” Barry resigned. “But if you don’t pick a time to rest, your body’s going to pick it for you. Can we compromise?”

“Maybe.”

“Just trance right here, and I’ll be here too. And if he so much as moves a finger I will alert you.”

“Counter offer,” Lup began. “You go get at least six hours of human sleep because it’s the middle of the night, and when the sun is up and you are rested I will let you take over for one hour.”

“Two hours.”

“Hour and a half, but I stay here.”

“Deal.”

And so Barry went off to bed, pausing before he left the room as if he had something to say, but left without another word.

Lup did not keep up her end of the bargain, however, because the next afternoon Lucretia came into the room, already fully dressed and bundled for the winter weather.

“I’m going to head into town,” Lucretia stated. “There’s an apothecary. Maybe they’ll know something about this poison. There has to be something more we can do.”

Barry had come to take over for Lup not long after Lucretia left.

“We had a deal,” Barry pointed out.

Lup, looking worse for wear after two skipped nights of rest, shook her head.

“Lucretia went out to look for answers—she won’t be gone long; I want to hear what she has to say.”

“So I’ll let you know when she’s back,” Barry bargained, frustrated.

They argued more, and Lup finally gave in—somewhat. She sat on the floor, legs crossed and folded, and closed her eyes. Every time Barry checked on her, however, she had one eye open and was clearly alert.

“C’mon, Lup,” Barry pleaded after fifteen minutes or so. “Try to get some rest.”

Lup stood up and began pacing. Barry sighed, and let it go.

Half an hour later, Lucretia was back. She held a small vial and a pocket knife close to her chest. She seemed troubled. Merle stood behind her, incredulous.

“I have an antidote,” Lucretia announced unceremoniously.

“Great,” Lup exclaimed with a smile of relief. The smile disappeared, however, when she saw Lucretia’s apprehensive face.

Lup stepped back, allowing Lucretia and Merle to get close to Taako.

“It’s like a living poison,” Lucretia explained with urgency. “That’s why Merle couldn’t fully get rid of it. He would neutralize the poison but then more would be released. And it builds up over time. It’s like an organism and it consumes decaying matter, but because Taako didn’t die it just stayed in his system and multiplied and expanded, and that’s what caused the pain.”

“Okay,” Barry said. “So you have something that will kill the poison?”

“Yes…” Lucretia spoke hesitantly. “But the apothecary said…the process is really hard on the body. They said that…people who survive wish they hadn’t.”

Lup began to fidget with her hands.

“It’s actually a really common poison here,” Lucretia went on. “So common, however, that the antidote is usually administered within an hour of contact. Two full days have passed…the apothecary said that’s practically unheard of, and the only way he’s going to recover from the process is by _sleeping_ a lot.”

“But he can’t sleep,” Lup said, monotone. “We can’t sleep.”

“Well…exactly,” Lucretia answered delicately. “I’m not sure if this is going to work.”

“But I think it’s worth a shot,” Merle said. “I can’t keep up this routine for much longer, and neither can you, Lup. And I hate to say it, because I want to avoid this at all costs, but…if this goes south, he’s not gone forever. The cycle’s almost over. We can’t let him suffer like this.”

Lup sat down and buried her face in her hands. Everyone remained silent for a few minutes.

“It’s your decision, Lup,” Lucretia said. “We won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. But he’s definitely not going to get better if we don’t do this.”

Lup shook her head and stood up.

“Okay,” she resigned. “Okay. Tell me what to do.”

“We have to make an opening where the poison made first contact,” Lucretia explained. “And then just pour this over it. And…try to keep him comfortable while the antidote does its stuff.”

“Okay,” Lup nodded, and reached out her hand. “I’ll do it. I want to do it.”

Barry looked back and forth between Lup and Lucretia, looking unsure as Lucretia handed the pocket knife to Lup.

Wordlessly, Lup knelt down next to the bed and made a small incision on the mass in Taako’s hand. He winced slightly. The wound oozed blood and a purple substance that she had cleaned from his hands several times over the past two days.

With that, Lucretia stepped closer and uncorked the vial.

“Barry,” Lucretia commanded gently. “Hold him down if you have to. Merle, get ready.”

Lup pressed Taako’s wrist down onto the bed while Lucretia poured the potion into the wound. The potion sizzled and fizzed as the purple substance mixed in with Taako’s blood evaporated.

Taako’s hand tensed and trembled, but for a few moments that was all that happened. Lup let out a deep breath, somewhat relieved. Lucretia, however, watched Taako closely—very unsure.

Half a minute later, Taako grimaced and gasped. His body tensed, then he bolted upright with a blood-curdling scream.

Lup’s heart dropped, her eyes widened. Barry grabbed Taako and forced him back down to the bed, fighting to keep him down as he writhed in agony. Lup held down on his wrist with one arm while trying to keep his legs down with her other. The screaming did not stop. Her sensitive ears pulled back with the noise. Lup had stayed strong through this whole ordeal, but now she finally broke down and began to cry. She had never seen him scream in pain before.

“Taako,” she pleaded through tears, almost unable to hear herself over the shouting. “Taako—it’s okay, I know it hurts—please hang in there!”

At the sound of Taako’s screams, a horrified Magnus ran into the room, followed quickly by Davenport.

“What happened?” Davenport demanded, panicked.

“Merle, do it now,” Lucretia ordered, tears in her eyes.

“It only lasts a minute,” Merle shouted.

“Do something,” Lup begged.

Merle cast Calm Emotions.

Taako’s wailing ceased, but it was clear that the pain did not. He bit his lower lip so hard it drew blood; he breathed heavily as his body shook.

They all paused, and Lup buried her face in her arms on the bed, shaking.

“This only lasts a minute,” Merle repeated. “It’s not a cantrip, I can’t just do it over and over again.”

“Can anyone cast sleep?” Lucretia asked.

“Elves are immune to that,” Lup droned, her voice muffled by the bed.

“…Right,” Lucretia sighed.

“I have Essence of Ether,” Davenport offered softly. “It’ll keep him under for eight hours or until we wake him up.”

“Yeah,” Lup retorted. “Let’s poison him some _more.”_

Merle cast another healing spell, then sighed. “I don’t see what other choice we have, Lup.”

Lup sat up and wiped her eyes, shaking her head. She cursed.

“Fuck it,” she resigned. “Do whatever.”

The captain left and returned with a round bottle. He shooed Merle, Barry, and Lup away from the bed. Lucretia and Magnus left the room entirely to give the others some space.

“Stay back,” Davenport warned. “If you inhale it, you’ll be out too.”

He opened the vial near Taako’s face, and shortly after he seemed to relax somewhat. He continued to tremble and sweat and his breathing did not improve, but he stopped writhing and his jaw relaxed.

Davenport put the cork back in the bottle.

“He’ll wake up in eight hours, or sooner if you try to wake him. So just let him rest.”

Davenport took is leave, and Merle followed him—saying that he would be back to check on Taako in an hour.

Lup leaned against a wall and sunk down to the floor, burying her face in her knees. Barry rushed to her side, hesitating before placing a hand on her head.

For the next eight hours, Lup could not be persuaded to rest or eat. Her movements were slow and shaky. She was worn out. She did not attempt to rouse Taako, fearing that he would still be in agony.

Near the end of the ether’s duration, Taako’s breathing grew more stable. His body temperature dropped to a more normal level, and the trembling had mostly subsided.

Even after Davenport’s ether had worn off, Taako remained unconscious for a few hours. Merle healed him again before heading off to bed to recover his spell slots. Barry kept Lup company for as long as she allowed him to, but she eventually forced him to go to bed as well. Lup sat alone with Taako.

Not long after Barry had left, Taako finally began to stir.

His eyes opened with difficulty, unfocused and glassy. He looked around, blinking a few times to try and clear his hazy vision, before locking eyes with his sister.

“Lup...?” His voice was raspy and weak.

Lup beamed. “Hey,” she answered quietly.

“You...look like hell,” Taako mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

She scoffed. “You should see yourself.”

Taako let out a small noise as he tried to prop himself up—but Lup quickly placed a hand on his chest and gently pushed him back down to the bed.

“Don’t—don’t move around too much, Taak, you’re in a bad way. “

“Huh...?”

“How are you feeling?”

He paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. He forced a small smile.

“Yeah...not gonna lie, I, uh... _really_ not great.”

“I bet,” Lup said as she dabbed his face with the cloth again.

“What...what happened?” He asked.

“You touched a poison arrow while you were goofing around, dingus.”

Taako squinted and frowned as he tried to recall. He rolled his eyes when he remembered.

“That garbage excuse for a trap did this?”

“You’re losing your touch, my dude,” Lup teased softly.

“Yeah, shit, guess I really couldn’t solve the cave puzzle.”

Taako winced slightly as he spoke, and Lup’s smile faded. She took a second to gather her thoughts.

“Listen, you remember how everyone on this plane are humans?” She asked.

He nodded, running a hand through his hair.

“Their medicines are gonna work differently on you. The antidote we gave you...well typically you’d need to sleep. It takes a lot out of you.”

Taako continued to rub his eyes. “Okay?” he prompted, almost inaudibly.

“We knocked you out so you wouldn’t feel as much,” Lup explained. “But you really need to trance. Do you think you can?”

He thought a minute, then shrugged.

“I know it’s gonna be hard cause everything hurts,” she said, hushed. “But you’re not going to recover if you don’t.”

“Should be fine,” Taako replied. “It’s not so bad. I can tell you took good care of me.”

“Well it was mostly Merle honestly,” Lup said. “We owe him a big thanks. Let’s cook up something nice for him when you’re back on your feet. “

“Merle actually healed me?” Taako doubted.

“Yeah, a whole bunch of times. And Lucretia got the antidote, Capn’port had the ether, Magnus got you back to the ship...and Barry kept us company. It was a group effort, I guess.”

Taako pulled his hand away from his face and took a good look at his sister.

“How long was I out?” He asked.

“This is the third night,” Lup replied wearily.

“Three days?!” Taako tried again to sit up, but failed. He continued with irritation: “And you’ve been with me the whole time.”

Lup opened her mouth to say something, but Taako cut her off.

“I can tell,” he said. “You need to trance. I’m alright now. Go get some rest.”

“I’m fine, Taak.”

“Did you forget to eat too, goofus?”

Lup tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, looking askance.

“Tell you what,” Lup said, taking a moment to grab a canteen from the table behind her. “You’re gonna drink a whole bunch of water because I swear you just sweat out your whole body weight, which—gross, by the way—and then _you’re_ gonna try to trance so that you can recover a little bit. And when Barry comes to check in on us in the middle of the night again, I’ll let him take over. And then I will go and meditate.”

Taako briefly closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and Lup couldn’t tell if it was from annoyance or pain.

“Barry will?” Taako asked.

“Yeah, he’s been trying to take over since day two,” Lup said with a sigh. “He keeps popping in around four or five.”

Taako gave a little smirk. “He’s a pretty good dude.”

“Yeah,” Lup gave a sad smile. “He is. He was worried about you. We were all really worried.”

Lup’s smile dropped as quickly as it had come, and she continued: “God, Taako, that was...that was really scary.”

Taako tried a third time to rise. Lup put a hand out to stop him, but he pushed it away. He sat up, holding his head, and took a few jagged breaths. When he regained his composure, he reached a hand out to Lup. She took it and glanced at him, forlorn.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m fine now. You did a good job. Relax.”

Lup handed him the canteen and Taako took a long drink.

“Are you hungry?” She asked.

Taako made a face at the thought, his stomach turning. “Absolutely not.”

Lup nodded. “Alright,” she said. “Then just lie down and try to trance.”

He did not argue. To Lup’s relief, Taako was actually able to meditate fairly quickly. She had been worried that the pain would keep him too alert.

When Barry came in to check on them, Lup finally acquiesced. She took a few hours to meditate right in the room with Taako, more out of exhaustion than worry, and when she finished Barry sent her to her room to get a proper rest.

Taako spent nearly half the next day trancing, which was very unusual for any elf, but his body was so messed up it was necessary. When asked how he was feeling, he likened it to “a hangover, but a hundred times worse.” He improved somewhat when Lucretia brought him some Fantasy Aspirin.

It took a full week for Taako to feel completely back to normal, though he lied and told his friends he was fine after only three days.

When the end of the cycle came and everything predictably reset for the IPRE crew, Lup wondered how many times she was going to have to watch her family suffer or die. They had begun getting careless about safety—but eventually there would be a last cycle, there had to be! She hoped when that day finally came, everyone she loved would be safe.

Come what may, she knew—at least she and Taako would always have each other.

**Author's Note:**

> I love writing TAZ fics cause I can say shit like "fantasy aspirin" and it's fine.  
> Please leave a comment if you liked this, or come say hi on tumblr at glow-worm.tumblr.com !


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